Blake Farenthold Quotes
Sometimes you've got to make a hard decision, and there's a real reluctance to make hard decisions in Washington.
Farenthold, Blake. Interview. Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 2014.
The Smithsonian in 1888 had started a “Department of Living Animals” and had 172 at the time whereas earlier all animals were stuffed. At the time no one was quite sure whether or not there would be any public interest in a zoo. This initial request for $200,000 to buy property on which to place the zoo was turned down as historically zoos were created by royalty and the very rich and didn’t seem democratic to many members of the House. Others however, saw the role of democracy as bringing to ordinary people what had historically been available only to royalty and the wealthy. See {629321} . The Speaker was not an enthusiast for the zoo and the House had voted it down in the previous session, but there had been a surge in popular opinion and Congressmen had been extensively lobbied by advcates for the upper and working classes. The Speaker was a realist as the quotation indicates, but he was not as tactful as later speakers were.
Randolph Blake Farenthold is an American politician and lobbyist. A member of the Republican Party, Farenthold co-hosted a conservative talk-radio program before beginning a career in politics. Farenthold served as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 27th congressional district from 2011 until his resignation in April 2018 in the wake of reports he used public funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit and had created an intensely hostile work environment for women in his congressional office. Upon resigning, Farenthold pledged to reimburse the US$84,000 in public money that he used to settle the lawsuit, then reneged his pledge to repay in May 2018.
